bender



ventre retire @einer t'iiir,

E. C. BENDlllt, OF i YORK, nihil)- llflLLifihi STEFFE, (lil llii'ilfi. lllLii-lil,

PENNSYLVANIA. Letters Fatemi 1li' 72,157, dated December 17, .1867,

IMPROVEMENT lll, DENG AND. SEASONNG LBJBEB.

@tige rlgibnle wenn tu in ligase nirrs @und :me uniting ont n( tige sans.

T() ALL WHM IT MAY CONCERN:

' Be it known that ire, E. C. 'BEXDEIL of York,'in the county oi' York, and State vof Pennsylvanie, and WILLAu STEFFE, of thecity and county of Philadelphia, and State of Tennsylvania, have invented a new and improved Process of Seasoning Lumber; und we do hereby declare that the following is ui'uli, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the aceompnnying drawings, making s. part of this specification, in wilieh l i Figure 1 is un elevation of the front .part of u building, in which the drying und sensoningvprocess is conducted.

Figure 2 is u. longitudinal section, teken in u vcrticail plane through the centre of the bnilding.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding paris inthe two iigures.

This invention relates 'to a. new and improved process of treating lumber, for the purpose of drying` and seasoning iti Theinvcntien is designed to remedy n serious defect in processes of seasoning lumber which here been heretofore adopted, which defect arises from :in improper application of heat to the lunxbcr in the dryingliiln, causing the surfaces of the logs to shrink and become so dry, in a very short time, us to prevent the lient from penetrating to the interior 0i' the logs und carrying oii` the moisture therefrom. We refer particularly to processes wherein the lumber to be seasoned is placed in n kiln or apartment, und subjected lo the direct action liiry lient-od air, whiculsellowed to enter the scusoningupnrtmeni :it the lower part, and to escupe through thereof, chztrged with moisture, which it absorbs from the lumbern The continual ingress yund egress of highly heated nir, greedy of moisture, absorb the moisture from the suri'nces of the logs with such rapidity es, te centrnct and close the pores or spiracles of the wood, and thereby form on impenetrable shell, through whiehnthe sap or moisture contained in the interior el" thc -logs is prevented from escaping, or being:r noted upon to advantage by a. further continuance of tlhe heat.

Other processes have been attempted, wherein the lumber uns subjected to the direct action ei` ste-,un for a Considerable length oi' time, for the purpose oi' expanding und enlarging the poresf the Wood, and softening the guulmy matters of thc wood. The lumber ries thon subjected to the direct action of dry heated air in eirculation, for the purpose of carrying oli` the moisture and drying the nood.

To ebviote the above objections, and to provide for drying and seusoning large logs, es well es .sinned lumber, from centre to surface, the nature of our invention consists in providing i'or keeping the pores of the wood open for a sutlieient length of time to allow of the absorption and carrying off ot' the moisture from the interior, as n'cll as the exterior of the wood, as will he hereinafter described i To enable others skilled in the nrt to understand our invention, we n'ill describe our improved process.

In the accompanying drawings, we have represented :L building, in which the process of seasoning lumber is conducted. The sides, bottom, and top, enclosing the seasoning-chamber A, should he made as nir-tight as practicable, so that, when the doors und regulators are closed, no oir will be admitted into said chamber from without. A furnace, l, is arranged in said chamber, with one or more pipes loading te u chimney, for car- Tying vif the products of combustion, nud through. the front unil llleuding into the :ish-pit. of the furnace; and also, into the lower part of the chamber A, openings :ire meile, which ure at certain times hermotically closed. Above the top wall or partition A is a roof, and in the space enclosed by this roof is :in air-cenduit, E, leading into the chimney C. This conduit E communicates, by mcnns of one or more openings e, umile through the purtitionA, with the seasoningchember, A, es shown in fig. Between suid opening or openings und the chimney C, vralves Z: arc applied within the conduit 13,50 as to be operated, by means of rods c, from the outside of thc structure, which valves are designed i'or allowing the escape of' nir charged `with moisture from the chumber A, and for preventing such escupe, at pleasure. At a Suitable point above the furnace or heutingsappcrutus im Open platform, G, is arranged, upon which the lumber to be seasoned is suitably steered. instead of the furnace above described, the required degree of heat can be obtained in the chamber A, by the employment of pipes, heated by steam, circulating through them. i

Having thus described one` form of apparatus which is adopted for use in conducting our improved proces-s of seasoning lumber, we will non' describe the process, desiring to be understood as not limiting our invention to the apparatus shown, as other arrangements may be adopted without,- departing from the general principle of our invention. l l

l Operation.

tightly closed, so as to make this chamber as tight'as possible, and thus prevent the entrance of air, as the` prominent feature 'of this process consists in retaining,r all the heat and moisture, as it is produced about the timber'as it is being'seasoned. The fire is then started in the furnace, if a furnace be employed, and continued until the temperature inthe chamber l attains about 170 Fahrenheit, vwhen it Will be found that the air in said chamber has undergone a material change, and, instead of this'air Vbeing only highly rareiied from the action of the heat, it has become surehnrged with moisture, which is the result of' retaining heated dry air in contnct with green or moistened Wood for a-p'roper length of time, und at this temperature and moist. conditionof the atmosphere, it is'very penetrating in its character, and searches to the centre of the logs of "ood, carrying-ofi' wi'lr'it the moisture and sap from the pores. At this stage of the process we open one or more ofthe valves b, and allow the 'escape of a portion of the heated, moistened atmosphere from the chamber A, being carefulnot to allow the atmosphere in thisvchamber to become too dry so long as the aforesaidihigli .temperature is maintained. y

When the greater part of the moisture has been extracted from the wood, we. thenproceed to regulate thc re in the heater or steam-pipes, as the ease may be,l so v:is to reduce the temperature of-the chamber A, and by opening the eold-air valves and flue-dempers or valves, obtain a rapid circulation of warmnir throughout the chamber, thus carrying nii' any moisture remaining therein, which completes the'` process, and leaves th'e lumber i thoroughly dried and seasoned, without injury-,by checking or otherwise, and with less attention, labor, fuel, and expense than are involved in any other process for seasoning wo'ed knowlnA l By our process we have no additional moisture' generated or supplied to that obtained from the lumber. The air containedin the chamber A, when closed, is highly heated, rarefied, and charged with moisture, which is absorbed or expelled from the pores of the wood being treated. By thus subjecting'r the wood to lthe action of heat and moisture, the surfaces of the logs nr boards will not be suddenly dried, as in other processes, but the pores of the wood will b'e kept open until all he moisture iseirtraeted. This moist andheat-ed air is retained in the drying-chamber so lon" as we .find it necessary for the condition,'kind,n.nd quality ofthe wood or lumber l e to be seasoned, -and, by allowing the escape of more or less of this moist air at proper times, we have Vperfect control of the moisture `retained and desirable in the drying-chamber, until the wood is thoroughly dried and seasoned.

Havingfdescribed our invention, what we claim as newtand desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-l I Thevvithin-described process of seasoning lumber, consisting in subject'ingfthe lumber to the action of n gradually-increased temperature, in an air-tight chamber, until all or nearlyll the moisture has been extracted from it; in retaining all the heatandwatery vapor about' the lumber until' n. temperature ci' about; 170 Fahrenheit has been attained in said air-Light chamber;v nn'd, finally, in compelling the heated moistencd air to escape slowly from saidchamber, while the temperature is reduced therein, Substantially in the manner h`ereinvset forlh.-

E. oJmNDEm' v WILLIAM STEFFE. Witnesses: i

G. J. Weisen, KILLIAN SMALL,

}as to E. C. BENDnR.

After stacking up Athe logs or lumber in the seasoning-chamber A, the doors and flue-slides or dempers arel 

